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Environmental grants improve Niagara's rural and urban spaces

Trees, bees and dragonflies are all getting a boost in Niagara this spring, thanks to a series of grants from the Niagara Community Foundation.

The grants, totaling $15,560, come from the Niagara Community Foundation’s environmental legacy fund, which supports projects that use a collaborative approach to meet environmental challenges.

The recipients proposed projects that are innovative and unique and have the potential to reach thousands of Niagara residents, said Liz Palmieri, the foundation’s executive director.

Heartland Forest was awarded $6,500 to create a dragonfly pond with interpretive signage at its Niagara Falls site, which will also provide habitat for frogs, birds and salamanders. The pond, to be located near Heartland Forest’s nature centre, will be accessible to people using wheelchairs and mobility devices, and will be planted with native species that support all four phases of the dragonfly lifecycle. The pond will be a teaching tool for school groups and summer camps, and will be open to visitors daily.

Willowbank School of Restoration Arts in Niagara-on-the-Lake was granted $3,000 in support of a series of free talks to be offered this spring and summer, from speakers recognized in the fields of landscape architecture, ecology, sustainable design and First Nations teachings. The series will including teaching about Willowbank’s wildflower meadow and its efforts to create suitable habitat for solitary bees.

The Niagara Falls Park in the City Committee was awarded $6,150 to plant 150 small and medium-sized trees along the two-kilometre Warren Woods trail. The trees will be planted in partnership with students from local schools and are the continuation of a project begun last year to provide shade, a natural environment and flood control in a newly developed neighbourhood in south Niagara Falls.

All three of the projects include efforts to involve students in the initiatives, or to teach people about natural heritage, and all three rely on collaborations with other groups or organizations.

Since the environmental fund was established in 2001, more than $420,000 has been awarded to dozens of groups and organizations who have planted trees, removed invasive species, restored wetlands, or identified species at risk.

To find out more about the Niagara Community Foundation and its hundreds of donors and grants, including the environmental legacy fund, visit www.niagaracommunityfoundation.org

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